Erotomania
by ang catalonan
Summary: When Cuddy started getting into the dating scene again, she started receiving strange letters from someone named H. Includes medical cases, hospital drama, stalking and obsession. HUDDY
1. Letters

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TITLE:** Erotomania 

**PAIRING:** House/Cuddy

**SUMMARY: **When Cuddy started getting into the dating scene again, she started receiving strange letters from someone named H. Now its up to her to find out who he is, what she did not realize is that the letters will lead her to a past she cannot even remember.

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CUDDY was busy dodging the inevitable encounter with House all morning. Usually, it was her stalking the hallways to find him and ask him about another insane procedure, which was stuck in his head, that she would have to allow in the end. But today was different, today was the reverse-role-playing-game day. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE was ready to admit that Cuddy was really starting to annoy him, and the game of hide and seek was starting to get the best of him. Cuddy has been hiding from him since the wee hours of the morning; Wilson doing the same while he himself tried to avoid an encounter with the new 'suck-up' ducklings.

He made another drastic turn to a corridor. He couldn't wait until he saw Cuddy's face when he would start to humiliate her, and when he saw Wilson at the farthest nurses' station of the geriatrics ward, his eyes sparkled with gleeful self-satisfaction.

"Hey, ASTRO-BOY."

He saw Wilson wince at the sight of him, but he knew better than to start running off from House. The more he runs, the more House will track him down.

"How was last night?" House said, with a sardonic tone.

"I'm---not telling you anything."

House stared at him with his best puppy dog eyes, while Wilson's widened in horror. House turned his gaze to the direction of Wilson's sight and saw Cuddy entering the hall. When their eyes met, Cuddy dropped dead in her tracks. After she recovered from shock, she turned around and started going back.

"Hoi-" House shouted, trying to make her stop, but Cuddy ignored him and used the stairs.

House turned around and looked at Wilson. Wilson just shrugged his shoulders while House threw him daggers with his stare. In the end, though, Wilson would have to rat Cuddy out or he'd suffer much worst that he already has.

House would later on pick up a piece of paper and write a note for Cuddy to read.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CUDDY was getting ready to go home. She picked up her things and put them in her bag, then looked at the wall clock and made a mental note to remember something, when her new assistant entered and said that someone was waiting for her outside her office. She knew who it was instantly and told him to tell the awaiting party that she'd be out in a minute.

She went back to arrange her stuff when a single piece of paper dropped from the pages of her daily planner. While picking it up and unfolding it she felt coldness wrap around her body, goose bumps started to form.

**Don't go out tonight. **

**Don't go with anyone. **

**Stay here, stay with me. **

**I love you: 1-4-3.**

**-H**

------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE received a late night phone call from Cuddy that day asking him 'what's his problem'. House pretended he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Stop toying with me, okay?"

"Not okay." House said, while watching Jeopardy.

"What? What's your problem with Joaquin? He's a decent man, he's a beautiful person." Cuddy said on the phone, exasperated.

"He's Spanish."

"And your point?"

"You don't look good together," House said, and then he stuck his tongue out in suppression of a gleeful laughter. "_Jo-wakin_, looks like a 'no-brainer' when with you."

"His, Joaquin is not pronounced _Jo-wa-kin_, House. It's _Wa-keen, _and drop it." She paused and went on. "Fine, Humiliate me all you want but I will not stop dating him. Got it?"

"No, I don't-" He pulled his ear from the phone when Cuddy hung up on him. She must be really mad. _Because of a simple note he sent her? Why? _

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I told you not to go. **

**You hurt my feelings, you made me sad. **

**I was alone last night, you know. **

**After I told you that I love you and don't go out with him, you still did.**

Cuddy swallowed, her eyes widened in horror. The letter was written in the very same stationary as yesterday and the very same scent. It's the first thing that she found lying at the top of her office table. Her assistant claimed that she hadn't seen that note when she first entered her office.

She continued reading:

**I thought you love me too. Maybe I was wrong but I'll make sure you will.**

**You will love me, Lisa Cuddy, the same way that I love you**

**-H**

------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE entered Cuddy's office. She was reading a note that had elicited a strange reaction of fear and confusion from her face. When he approached her and sat in front of her, his plan of humiliating her for dating Joaquin last night vanished into thin air.

"What?" He asked her, confused.

"What's this?" She waved the letter in his face.

"A letter. Pretty obvious, actually."

Cuddy sighed, nodded and asked again: "Why are you telling me all these?"

House is beginning to have an idea that he doesn't know what she's talking about but he decided to guess: "To humiliate you?"

"You, telling me in a letter that you love me is just for humiliation? You got to be kidding me." Cuddy said, hurt.

"Wait. That letter? I wrote I love you, in that letter? Are you high?"

Cuddy turned pale, "You weren't the one who wrote this?"

"Hell, no. I love you? No way."

Cuddy crumpled the paper unknowingly in her hands. It was when her computer chimed signaling, that she received an electronic mail. When she opened it, actual fear started to crawl up her body.

House wasn't comfortable with the awkward silence that's been around the two of them. He went up his chair and approached her side of the table facing the computer LCD. Cuddy did not make an attempt to stop him, which was strange in itself.

What he saw made him realize why Cuddy turned pale and obviously frightened.

The letter wrote:

**I don't like him. **

**Stop talking to him. **

**You can't go out with him either. **

**You're mine. **

**I'm watching you. **

**-H**

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Note to my lovely beta, **Critical Blues**: Past tense is good enough for me, XD. Thanks for making the time for me and this story. Remember that I am forever in your debt. I love you for doing this for me. Thank you so much for saving me. 


	2. Tulips and Carnation

**I don't like him. **

**Stop talking to him. **

**You can't go out with him either. **

**You're mine. **

**I'm watching you. **

**-H**

"It's Chase." House said flat-out.

"W-what?"

"It's Chase. Chase has been messing up with you since the beginning of this week." House said, scratching his head.

Cuddy felt her fear gradually subside and actual anger filling her up. "Whaaa--? How did you even know---?"

"You did not recognize the Australian accent?"

Cuddy let out a puff of breath, her cheeks and ears turning immensely red. House could even swear he could see her carotid artery pulsating. "No. I don't think letters can accurately demonstrate accents---"

"We had a bet." House started his explaining. "Whoever freaked you out first wins a beef tenderloin meal in the cafeteria." He winced and prepared himself for the outburst of the century.

Much to his surprise, no outburst happened. She just breathed in and out, trying to stabilize her respiration.

"Cuddy, are you okay?" House said.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, and then her eyes narrowed. Before he could see it coming, her black half a pound planner is already in his face with an accompanying "get out or I'll call security on you."

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

WILSON went out of the mammography room discreetly, and once the door closed behind him he burst out laughing. If House didn't found it just as hilarious, his cane will definitely hit some balls.

House's hands are still on his face. It's red and on its way turning hematoma-purple. Wilson paused and grasped in some air. He tried to contain his laughter, but failed miserably and ended back having a much more intense laugh as if there's no tomorrow.

"I love it when she does that," Wilson said.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. You always love it when she hurts me." House said, making a face. They are at that situation when Chase approached them.

"I heard what just happened," Chase said and chucked.

House looked at him and spoke: "Of course you did, and have you heard? She let out a memo suspending you for 2 weeks for inappropriate conduct…" while he let out a _squee_ with accompanying hand gestures.

Chase paused and shook his head, "There's no such memo."

"You wait until after lunch."

"Bottom line is---I won. Yipee."

Wilson watches the two exchange words quietly. House was out of words after Chase's last line. He quietly reached for his pant's back pocket, started counting coins and small paper bills until it reached 500 dollars.

Wilson's eye widen: "I thought the price was just a beef-tenderloin meal…"

"I lied." House said, "Wouldn't want Cuddy to think she's worth so much to me…"

Chase extended his hands waiting for House to forcibly place the bills on it. His eyes almost disappear when his smile reached his ears. "She wouldn't suspend me, we talked already. I told her you forced me to have this bet with you… blah, blah… you know she believes me more than she'll ever believe you… You're such a liar."

Wilson is honestly surprised to see Chase grow some balls for being able to talk to House like that.

House's cane ended up hitting some balls, for real. Wilson chuckled as Chase let out a crisp "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwh…"

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

CUDDY went home early that day and was mesmerized to see another bouquet of tulips and carnation in front of her door. She has been receiving the same kind of flowers this past week. Without her knowledge House followed her car home in a yellow cab. He watched her take the flowers, smell it as she search the parameters for the delivery guy. Definitely, she's clueless on who sent it and why.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

THREE KNOCKS.

Three knocks on her door brought her back to Earth from Fantasy Land. She realized that it has been for minutes now that she has been staring at the fresh-scented flowers she just transferred to a crystal vase.

_Tulips and carnation.__ Why tulips and carnation?_

She literally jumped off her feet when she heard another knock. She steadied herself and approached the door. She let out an exasperated "no" when she saw who it was.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR, I'M FREEZING." House snapped at her.

"Good manners…" Cuddy said as she unlocks her door.

He brushed his body past her and said: "Get me some hot chocolate."

"…and right conduct," Cuddy said while making her way to the kitchen when the phone rang.

"I'm on it." House said, quickly reaching for the phone.

Cuddy heard him pick up the phone and say "hello". She shook her head and set up a kettle for boiling water. "Feeling at home?" she said, sarcastic.

House smiled at her direction, held his one hand to the speaker part of the phone and rocked his eyebrows twice. He then, went to her door and whispered a sentence or two to the one he's talking to.

She have not heard it and declared: "No phone sex using my line, House" as she becomes suspicious.

House did not bother to glimpse back at her but based on the way his intonation is changing, he's starting to sound really pissed. By the time Cuddy finished making him a cup of hot chocolate, he hung the phone up as if he wanted to break it.

"Easy… It's not like it'll fight back at you…"

Cuddy looked around her own living room. The flowers are all around and its scent seems to be bordering her. She can't go anywhere without feeling a presence watching her. She watched House turn off her porch light and turn on all of her living room light.

"Is there anything you want to prove?"

House sipped some hot chocolate, picked up the crystal vase and threw it at her window. Her jaw dropped when she heard the sound of glass breaking. He, afterwards, closed the curtain---as in, all of her living room curtains.

"Now, you're freaking me out." Cuddy said and was shut up by House's hand grasping her at the waist, pulling her slender body close to his.

"O---kay…" She said nervously while she's feeling his body crushing hers with his strong arms, but again he shut her up by forcing his lips to hers. It was supposed to be brief… but it did not turned out to be that…

Her lips are soft and sweet. His are rough and angry. Her eyes widen as she try to look into his eyes and read what he's thinking. She tried to pull away. This man… this man is making fun of her, that's what she was thinking the whole time his lips are hungrily sucking her lower lip.

She fought. He wouldn't let her pull away. She tried to embed her elbows to his chest while his arm crawls its way to her back, to her nape, to her hair. She grasped for air, she can't breathe. He breathed for her.

Her barriers are falling down, his are going up. He pulled away. She looked at him, hurt and hostile. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Don't ask questions, just do what I do."

"And what exactly is this you're doing?"

"Kissing you."

"And you are suggesting I do the same?"

"Yes. Kiss me back, damn it."

Cuddy pulled away, feeling harassed more than ever: "What are you trying to accomplish here?"

For the second time, he shut her up with a kiss---much more forceful than the first one. For a second there, he thought she's going to bleed. He's hurting her, he knows that. But he's the good guy here; he's doing this to save her.

_I'm doing this for you. _

With that, he let his cane fall down to the floor as he cling to her for support. He lay her down to her carpeted floor, regardless of how hard she fought back to stop him. He undressed her, he pinned her to the floor.

_I'm saving you from him tonight. _

_

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_**angcatalonan: **The story, it basically wrote itself. So, disappointments? I hope there's none. Please review. 


	3. Delusional Jealousy

"Y-you're not gonna r-rape me are you?" Cuddy said, her body was in a slump down the floor with House on top of her.

House stopped what he's doing and let go of her hand, "No."

He breathed deeply and tried to calm himself. Cuddy wanted to ask him 'what just happened?' but decided that it was more important to ask him 'what is on your mind?' House didn't answer or make an attempt to answer, so she just decided that she should just get up.

House held her hand to stop her, "Wait."

"What?" She said, annoyed.

"Just wait." He whispered.

"Wait for what?"

"Help me with this shirt."

"Excuse me?"

"Help me take off my shirt. Damn, do I really have to repeat my words twice before you can even begin to understand?"

"I'm sorry, but for your information I have been clueless the whole time you were molesting me!"

"Molesting you? Oh, God…" House chuckled.

"I can sue you."

"I'd like to see you try." They were both breathing heavily, both under stress, in a way. "Now, since I made you speechless, help me take off this damn shirt."

"Why would I do that? It's like me giving you consent to rape me---"

"Okay, I get it that most girls have this rape fantasy going on. Just consider this the fulfillment of your own."

"I don't want to have sex with you."

House smiled to entice her: "Really?"

"Shut up, you blabbering idiot, and tell me what this is all about."

"Nothing. Just passing up my time."

Then, she slapped him. No words, no nothing.

"Ok. That hurts." House said with the evil sarcastic glint in his eye. Of course, he is used to being in pain, and he very well knew that he went, glamorously, over the line this time.

Their faces were inches apart from each other and her bones began to ache from being cramped under him, "Your squishing me House!"

House awkwardly gets off of her. He pretended that he pulled up his pants, zipped it and buttoned it. Cuddy, on the other hand busied herself with her own clothes. She shook her head as he went to her lights switch and turned on her porch light. He took another sip of, the now luke warm, hot chocolate and headed for the door.

On his way to the door, he picked up his cane and turned to Cuddy. What he said surprised her. He actually said "I'm sorry" as headed to his car. "Lock the door and make sure no one gets in. Turn on your security alarm."

Cuddy was left there, alone and puzzled.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**A shadow, two doors across Cuddy's home saw House leave in a hurry. He watched their silhouette kissing. He kissed her roughly. That was when he picked up his sniper's rifle and used a part of it as his telescope. **

_**Not good, not good.**_

**He's getting frustrated. He ****couldn't****stand**** seeing her sleeping around. **

_**She's not a whore. She's my Cuddy, my Lisa Cuddy. **_

_**She loves me. **_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Cuddy's weird evening was followed by a weird morning through weird phone calls about hospital's patient's deaths.

When she reached her office, her assistant handed her the report and she went through the data to review it. _Was it an outbreak, machines failure or human error? What is it?_

She went through the files again, only this time she looked at the causes of death. Three deaths stood up and caught her attention:

**Neuro****-ICU Bed 1: **Post Craniotomy, died past midnight of suffocation leading to increased intracranial pressure, to brain matter herniation.

**Geriatrics Ward Bed 4: **Severe degenerative anemia, died at 2:12AM due to ventilator failure.

**Oncology Ward Bed 3:**Liver CA stage 3, died at 2:33AM due to respiratory acidosis. Oxygen mask tube from tank, cut.

"They all looked like, intentional deaths," Cuddy was caught off guard by her assistant's words. She did not notice her enter her room: "Oh, I'm sorry Dr. Cuddy if I-"

She shook her head and said, "Its okay."

"I'm just… This just got in…" Her assistant, Angelica offered her a brown envelop.

Cuddy took the brown envelope and when she saw what it was, she threw it onto her desk, "Who gave this to you?" She said, apprehensive lines forming on her face.

"A delivery guy---"

"What does he look like?" Cuddy said quickly, picking up her phone in the mean time and dialing up security. "Hello, security? I want you to filter the people who are coming in and out. I need you to bring me the man that my assistant will describe to you…" She gave the phone to her assistant so that she can personally talk to the security officer.

"He's tall, more or less 6 feet or 6'2, I don't know." Angelica said.

Cuddy listened intently to her assistant. "Keep going" she said.

"He's wearing a navy blue shirt with matching baseball cap, and rubber shoes."

"Look…what does look like?"

"Uhm… black hair, blue eyes---uhm…" Angelica went on with the description, Cuddy missed it because of the sight of House barging through her door.

"I need to talk to you."

"Not now." Cuddy turned to House.

"Now is the best time."

"LATER will be the best time, NOW is not a good time. Don't cross me, not now."

"Dr. Cuddy, they said they found him. He's on his way to the parking lot," Angelica said.

"Tell them to stop him, by all means." With that Cuddy went up her swivel chair and headed for the door.

"Cuddy, it's not a good time for you to go outside." House said, as he tried to keep up with her speed.

"House, I got another letter today. Same stationary, same scent," Cuddy said while walking briskly to the direction of the parking lot. "So, I say it's not Chase. The one who's been messing with me is not Chase. Never was Chase."

"I know." House said, having no choice in prolonging the disturbing information.

Cuddy stopped in front of the glass doors that separate the hospital to the world outside. "You know? What do you know?" Cuddy felt her confinement: confinement in lies and threats. Her whole life she devoted in this hospital, her whole life in confinement.

From where he was standing House could see security officers running, chasing after the delivery guy. He weighed for a moment on how he would tell Cuddy the things he know about her stalker. He treated her like crap more than the times he held doors for her. He made her look like a joke more than the times he went with Wilson to shop for neck ties. He kept the truth from her more than the times he skipped clinic duties. This time, is no exception. No exception at all.

He was about to open his mouth to say something when a shot was heard.

House held Cuddy to his arms. _She's jumpy_, he knows that. A sound like that would shock her; he tried to shield her as he forced her down to the floor. Then, another gun shot was heard.

Two bodies down: one to a security officer, another to the delivery guy.

Cuddy broke free of House's arms. He tried to stop her, "Don't"

"Both of them are still breathing." Cuddy pointed out. The delivery guy crawled to the hospital and cried for help. The security guy moved a little then lost consciousness. She's very sure they are alive.

House knew it too. He called to the lobby to declare the need for a crash cart. Cuddy is willing to risk it to know what she thinks she needs to know. He's risking it to, he doesn't know whether another round will be shot though.

They reached the location of the two bodies along with the nurses and code blue personnel.

"I'm just the delivery guy… I did not know…" Cuddy held his hand. House wore a glove in one hand and placed pressure in the gun shot wound.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?" Cuddy hissed to House.

House looked around, slightly surprised that no shot was fired again, "He's somewhere, somewhere he can see us."

Cuddy instructed the team to take the bodies to the ER and perform the necessary care needed. They obliged. House took off his gloves and held Cuddy by the hand to get her inside the hospital building.

"Who is he? Why is he doing this?" she was too hysterical to take notice of their linked hands, he knew it to.

"Let's get in." House said, "He's in control, for now."

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**angcatalonan** ok, all the explanations needed will come in due time. Just keep reviewing. Feel free to ask questions, they help me be on the right track. Please review, the sooner I heard about what you think, the sooner I'll know where to go. Thanks for all the lovely comments. 

Thank you **Critical Blues, **you are such a darling.

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Since you people have been nice to me, I'll let you in some of the ideas I have for Chapter 4.

**"I'm sorry." **

**Cuddy paused. "Stop apologizing to me, House." **

**"It's my fault." **

**"Now, you're out of character."**

**"It's my fault. I led him to you."**

**The rubber band in her hand snapped. It broke. She turned to him and threw him a questioning look. "W-what do you mean?"**

**He took it: her stare, her anxiety, her desire to be enlightened, and prepared himself to tell the tale. **

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And, no. I am not evil, XD. Please review. 


	4. Safe with Me

CUDDY stormed her way from the lobby to the ER with House trailing her. He shook his head as he watched her take one heavy step after another. It didn't take long after they reached the ER and Cuddy asked, "How are they? Talk to me, people."

Cameron answered without stopping on her way to getting a request for a mechanical ventilator, "Security Officer Luke Bernard is not in a good shape. He was shot through a lung. We did a chest tube insertion to drain blood and try to regain negative pressure in the lungs. We're making a reservation for a MechVEnt machine and getting him ready for surgery."

Cuddy approached the other guy, the delivery guy, as he lay in pain in bed slipping in and out of consciousness. "And him? Who the hell is he?"

"No wallet, no info."

"What delivery company is he working for?" House asked, leaning his weight to his cane.

"None" Foreman said, as he checked for pupillary response with his penlight, going through the Glasglow coma scale item by item. Cuddy on the other hand pinched the guy on his arm as hard as she could.

"Cuddy, you want pain response? Take the bullet from his abdomen with your bare hands! The guy is already in pain. Your assessment will be inconclusive." House said.

"I'm not assessing for pain response! I'm assessing turgor. I think he's bleeding from the inside. He's going to Hypovolemic shock." Cuddy moved as fast as she could with repositioning the patient to a Trendelenburg position (with the feet slightly higher than his head). "Rush the security officer to the OR already!"

"Taub, go to the OR with Chase. Do the damn surgery." House ordered.

"And you, Foreman, Kutner and Hadley---save the delivery guy. He can't die." It's Cuddy's turn to deliver an order. Obviously, the stressful event exhausted her. "I have a lot of questions for him to answer."

House's eyes narrowed as he watch Cuddy pass him by, pick her cell phone and dialed the number of local police office to report the incident. "Cameron."

"Yes?"

"Call me when he wakes up. Call her when he dies."

* * *

HOUSE entered Cuddy's office which right now appeared like a hundred stallions had stampeded through the room. He intently observed her as she rummaged through some files from one cabinet after another, emptying drawers after drawers. He could say that knowing her, it's her way of deliberately engaging herself to trying to organize her thoughts.

"I'm sorry." House said, slightly startling her.

"Why are you---?"

"You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" She paused to look at him as she answered.

"No." He looked at her as she closed her eyes and sighed. He can tell that she's frustrated, anxious and stressed. "But your ass is as stunning as ever!"

She allowed a weak smile be drawn across her face. Well, he was House. He could make her smile with almost anything that he said unless it was about some insane procedure he'd throw at her. "Thank you. I felt better."

"I always knew that some sick complement about your ass would always make you feel better. Not to mention the twins---"

"That's enough." She snapped at him as she closes a folder in his face.

"I---"

"I have lots of things to do. I have a shooting incident, a stalker and patients dying---"

"It's a hospital?!"

"---due to some reason I cannot identify!"

"Machine failure?" House offered.

She shook her head. "It's not. One thing about nurses is that they are pretty responsible with things that concern equipments. They are pretty reliable, you know." Then she picked up another folder as she blurted out "Of course, you didn't notice! You were too busy insulting them." under her breath.

"Human error?" He asked again, arousing his curiosity.

"No."

House pulled the folder from Cuddy's hand and read the file. He paused to read it for a while and then spoke after he noticed the pattern, "It's 'human'. Not much of an 'error' cause it's not. It's 'intentional'."

"What do you mean?"

"Read it Cuddy. The note from the delivery guy…" He tilted his head to the direction of her table to tell her that the note was somewhere under there.

She didn't entirely know where he was going with this but she did what he said. She rummaged through the paperwork above her desk and picked up the familiar scented stationary and read it:

**Last night was painful for me.**

**Watching you with him was torture for me!**

**Why would you do that? Why would you sleep with him? **

**WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? **

**I told you I loved you. **

**I do love you very much.**

**You wanted proof? **

**1-4-3-4-4.**

**-H**

Cuddy paused and looked at House who pointed out the cases on her folder:

**Neuro-ICU Bed 1: **Post Craniotomy, died past midnight of suffocation leading to increased intracranial pressure, to brain matter herniation.

**Geriatrics Ward Bed 4: **Severe degenerative anemia, died at 2:12AM due to ventilator failure.

**Oncology Ward Bed 3:**Liver CA stage 3, died at 2:33AM due to respiratory acidosis. Oxygen mask tube from tank, cut.

"They are all intentional with human intervention. Plus, the timeline. Look."

Cuddy was shocked. She hadn't see it coming from any direction. _God, this guy is insane. _"Okay. I'll get right on calling the proper authorities."

"You should. He's got two more patients to kill to prove to you his love."

* * *

Nobody knows  
Just why we're here  
Could it be fate  
Or random circumstance  
At the right place  
At the right time  
Two roads intertwine

House stopped singing for a while then adjusted the Spanish guitar's string and plucked it again so that he'd hear if it was out of tune. After he found out that it was still a little off, he re-adjusted it and turned to adjust the next string. Then he went on to sing the next stanza of his newly written song:

And if the universe conspired  
To meld our lives  
To make us  
Fuel and fire  
Then know  
Where ever you will be  
So too shall I be

"Hey, I've been looking for you."

"Hey!" House said, acknowledging Cuddy's presence. She looked tired. He held the guitar to his arm and patted the floor beside him in a gesture, asking Cuddy to sit beside him on the floor. She obliged.

"Did you stay here the entire time after we talked?" She said while sitting down on his right side, folding her legs and pulling her skirt lower to cover it well. She then leaned her back to the wall. House offered her his coat. She shook her head no but he insisted. He rested his coat on her knees, as if it was a blanket.

"Yeah. It's actually a good thing you found me. I'm hiding here, you know." He said as if spilling her his secret. They are in a stock room full of kidney basins, urinary catheters, KY Jellies and bedpans.

She chuckled. "Yeah, I searched for you 'coz I know you'd be hiding."

"Why? I don't have a case."

"To hide with you."

For a few seconds both of them were quiet. House took the opportunity to find a melody for his song. He strummed while Cuddy closed her eyes and buried her face to her hands. He continued singing while looking at her:

Close your eyes  
Dry your tears  
'Coz when nothing seems clear  
You'll be safe here

From the sheer weight  
Of your doubts and fears  
Weary heart  
You'll be safe here

Cuddy opened her eyes and looked at him. It was one of those rare moments when he seems to have the power to ease her pain. He had always been protective of her in his own little ways: protective of her from her dates, from college professors who attempted to make a move on her and even on her own past bosses and current employees. She watched him sing intently. He sang the next line as if it was written entirely for her:

Save your eyes  
From your tears  
When everything's unclear  
You'll be safe here

From the sheer weight  
Of your doubts and fears  
Wounded heart

"It's nice." She smiled with genuine feeling of peacefulness as he sang. He watched on as the mask of strength slipped from her face. She looked exteremly vulnerable. The staring game went on a few seconds more until she decided to withdraw and took a rubber band out of her pocket and started playing with it. She played with it trying hard not to look in House's direction again.

"I'm sorry." He decided to break the silence.

Cuddy paused. "Stop apologizing to me, House."

"It's my fault."

She paused. "Now, you're out of character."

"It's my fault. I led him to you."

The rubber band in her hand snapped. It broke. She turned to him and threw him a questioning look. "W-what do you mean?"

He took it: her stare, her anxiety, her desire to be enlightened, and prepared himself to tell the tale. "You remember Hawdon? I saw him at a CDC Conference."

"Hawdon?" She frowned, searching a face in her memory. "Who's he?"

"The guy from the library we used to go, back when you were in college. We met there, remember? He was the guy constantly waiting for you in the English Literature Section."

She stayed there beside him, looking straight to his eyes, trying hard to remember.

"The…the guy who calls himself Hawdon and named you 'his Lady Dedlock'. Now you remember?"

"Charles Dickens' Blake House…" Cuddy's eyes widen in surprise. "Mikhail?"

"Yes! Mikhail-something. I can't remember his surname."

"Mikhail Estrada? He did all these?"

"For sure, he was the one who sent you the tulips and carnation. It's his signature."

"I think so, but kill people? I don't think so."

"Don't doubt it Cuddy! He already did." _There were cases of rape-murder at Michigan this past decade. All linked to a man that sent tulips and carnation in the last two weeks before they went missing._ The last two lines he dared not to say to her. He refused to reveal that information to prevent her from having some sort of nervous breakdown.

"Wait, you saw him from the CDC-held Conference? What is he doing there?"

"I think he was kind of hoping to see you there. Instead, he came to me. Of course, knowing me, I mocked him. I gave him your…your contact details. Just email address and---"

"How could you?!" Actual tears started to form like pearls in the corner of her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought it would be fun for all three of us if an old stalker---Cuddy?"

"Shut up. Just shut up."

"You're mad?" House dared to ask although he obviously knows the answer.

"What do you think?!" She motioned to get up from his side when he held her hand and stopped her from leaving.

"Don't go. You're safe here." He said, not letting go of her hand. Not looking at her eyes either.

She threw him a sharp look but repositioned herself beside him. She shook her head in dismay. "You should protect me. You owe me big time."

"Yeah. Go to sleep and I'll watch the door." He closed her eyes with his hand and pulled her head to rest it on his shoulder. He pulled the coat to her shoulders. He couldn't keep his eyes from the view down her blouse every time he'd stare at her face. He had to do that in order for him to concentrate.

When she tried to protest, he 'shushed' her and continued his song:

When the light disappears  
And when this world's insincere  
You'll be safe here

In my arms  
Through the long cold night  
Sleep tight  
You'll be safe here

When no one understands  
I'll believe  
You'll be safe,  
You'll be safe  
You'll be safe here

Put your heart in my hands  
You'll be safe here

* * *

**angcatalonan: **That's it. I think it's long enough. Please review. And beware, more twists are coming.

Oh, credits: Song is **You'll be Safe Here **by **Rivermaya **(Cool song and I find it fitting. Go watch it in YouTube.) And beta--- **Queen Nefertiri Amun** (Jen, thank you so much for your time and patience) also **Charles Dickens' Blake House**.

Ciao!

Uh, and review.


	5. Nightmare

Legend: _Italics_ are thoughts (as always, at least in my literary universe). And Another song entitled **Forevermore** by **Side A **(**Bold**).

* * *

GREGORY HOUSE moved to try and get up from his slumped position on the floor when he suddenly felt the onslaught of pain in his leg. He moaned and shut his eyes as if it would help him suppress a scream. After brief seconds of intense pain, he tried to look around to survey the room. As he did so, his hands were involuntary searching for another pair of hands that should belong to Lisa Cuddy.

He was stricken with panic when he failed to find her within the vicinity of the room. He again tried to get up and called her name softly, patiently waiting even for the most subtle clue she could afford to give him. He subconsciously reached out for his Vicodin bottle positioned three feet from his body when another detail on the floor caught his attention.

Blood.

His hands quickly traveled to his head then to his torso, trying to search the source of that much bleeding, hoping as hell that it belonged to him because the alternative was so grim for him to even entertain.

But one thing was for sure.

The blood, it wasn't his.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

LISA CUDDY could swear that she'd willingly stay this way as long as possible. With the thought of Gregory House guarding her, she was at peace even in her sleep. She felt safe in his arms. She refused to open her eyes because she did not want to make a mistake of catching him in a vulnerable state, if ever he would allow himself that. She was actually afraid that she would catch him staring at her. She did not know how she should respond to that. She was afraid that he would pull himself away if she let him know that she was enjoying his attention and concern.

She could swear that even in her dream, it was very distinct, she smelled the scent of fresh flowers and heard a romantic music playing in the background.

**There are times  
When I just want to look at your face**** with the stars in the night  
There are times  
When I just want to feel your embrace on a cold night  
**

And then in a flash of white light she saw herself in her dream, standing in a corridor staring intently to a vase full of Tulips and Carnations. At the other end of the corridor was Greg, taken away in a corner and beaten to death.

**I just can't believe  
that you are mine now  
**

At the sudden change of mood and scenario of her dream, she grasped for breath and got up immediately after she opened her eyes. Her skin felt cold as if her face was drained of blood.

**You were just a dream that I once knew  
I never thought I would be right for you  
I just can't compare you with anything in this world  
You're all I need to be here with forevermore**

Her body tensed. She cursed under her breath. She swore that even awake, she could still hear the music playing. Goosebumps started to form. She turned her head around in panic. She was no longer on the floor of the storage closet with House. There was not even a sign of him or even a hint that he had been there. Fear officially swallowed her whole when she glanced at her bedside table and there laid a fresh bunch of tulips and carnation.

Apparently, she wasn't as safe as House had intended her to be.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

AN UNCONSCIOUS BODY lay opposite the Foley catheters' shelf. That was what House found when he traced the origin of the flowing blood. He recognized him to be the delivery man that was shot yesterday. He reckoned that the man's present injury was far more dangerous than his first.

And then, as if urged by something he couldn't recognize, he looked at the stranger's face. It was the first time he paid attention to looking at this man's face. House had a feeling that he had seen this man somewhere before. His eyes and lips looked familiar. A realization dawned into him when a light from the entrance of the barged door focused on his face.

He tried to picture it in his head, without the thick beard and the black strands of hair; House was so sure he knew the guy. _Damn!_

_He's Hawdon!_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**All those years, I've longed to hold you in my arms  
I've been dreaming of you  
Every night, I've been watching all the stars that fall down  
Wishing you would be mine  
**

Listening to the lyrics of the song wanted to make Cuddy puke. The desire to throw up because of high anxiety level was overthrown by her desire to do something to get herself out of her present situation. She was confined in a room that was unfamiliar with barely a light from a lampshade illuminating it. She quickly got up from where she lay. She noticed that she was no longer wearing her pencil cut skirt and beige tank top. Instead, she was wearing a black evening dress complete with stilettos.

**I just can't believe  
that you are mine now  
**

The thought of someone undressing her elicited an involuntary chill.

**You were just a dream that I once knew  
I never thought I would be right for you  
I just can't compare you with anything in this world  
You're all I need to be here with forevermore**

She glanced around the room once again. The music was coming from a speaker connected to a player placed outside her room, she figured from the neat wirings. She looked at the door and after a battle with herself she advanced near it. She pressed her ear against it to try and listen to whatever or whoever it was that was outside.

**Time and again  
There are these changes that we cannot end**

She reached for the door knob while her ears were still pressed to the door. When she couldn't hear anything from the outside, she tried to turn it. Much to her surprise, it wasn't locked.

**As sure as time keeps going on and on  
My love for you will be forevermore  
**

She gathered the strength that she could find within her. She thought that maybe the one who took her went out or asleep somewhere else or something like that. That maybe today was her turn to be lucky. She held the door and walked out quietly.

**I just can't believe that you are mine now  
**

She had no control of her tears falling down her cheeks. She wiped it with the back of her palm. She should get out of here. She made her way to the elegantly carved steps of the wooden stairs and realized that it wasn't just some house where he hid her. It must be a rest house or an ancestral house.

**You were just a dream that I once knew  
I never thought I would be right for you  
I just can't compare you with anything in this world  
**

She saw the living room covered with dark curtains, preventing the entrance of the morning sunlight. She couldn't even tell if it already was morning. Obviously, she lost track of time. Then she heard voices. She took a few steps closer to the voices. She reached the dining area, which was the only place well lighted in that house.

The man's voice ordered for something from the older woman. The woman obliged.

**As endless as forever  
Our love will stay together**

Lisa hid herself in the darkness, praying so hard that he was so busy with his meal he wouldn't notice her making a pass towards the main door. She froze when the man called her name and said, "There's no reason to hide."

**You're all I need to be here with forever more  
(As endless as forever)  
(Our love will stay together)  
**

She tried to pick herself up from being startled. She cursed the second time this day. She stepped from the darkness and looked at the man sitting at the dining table taking another bite.

"You?" Cuddy said, not masking her surprise in the sudden turn of events. He was the last man in her list of possible stalkers.

**You're all I need to be here with forevermore...**

The man slightly turned his head to look at her direction. With wine goblet in his hand, he gave her a haughty smile, "You're just about time for breakfast," he said.

And then, the music faded as it ended.

* * *

**angcatalonan: **Time for notes, again (yay!). I was hoping you'd see the literary vices I used and the parallelism and irony of this chapter in reference to the previous chapter. The song **Forevermore** is a really romantic song. I used it because I thought a 'really romantic song' from an obsessed stalker will raise the hair at the back of my (and my readers) head in fear. I thought it'll be really scary.

You're in the right direction if you'd be asking "what happened while they were asleep together in the supplies closet?" and "if Hawdon was with House, then who took Cuddy?" Answers will come in the next chapter. Maybe a college background… But I would love to listen to your theories.

My thanks to **HuntingPeace **and **emzypemzy** for reviewing, and **Nefertiri** for the beta.

And lastly, additional point goes to the people who got the movie reference that influenced my Cuddy waking up wearing a black evening dress scene, XD. _Hint, hint. _

It's your turn now. Tell me something. Tell me if it clarified things or raised more questions, or if it entertained you.

C'mon… you know I deserve some credit…


	6. Epiphany

**Epiphany**

Epiphany is a sudden perception (moment of understanding) that causes a character to change or act in a certain way. It is a sudden revelation of truth inspired by a seemingly trivial incident.

An illuminating realization or discovery, often resulting in a personal feeling of elation, awe, or wonder.

* * *

**LEGEND: **_Italics _are flashbacks. And please be guided, that Mikhail Estrada is Hawdon (in reference to Chapter 4).

* * *

_**WEDNESDAYS** could mean a lot of different things to different people. _

_To Gregory House it meant a treasure hunting game (of some sort) in the University of Michigan library during noon with a guy (or a girl) he didn't exert an effort to meet. For him, exchanging letters and clues on a piece of paper in page 134 of Suddarth and Brunner's Medical Surgical Nursing Volume 1 was good enough. Playing this game of "Sherlock Holmes" with the stranger was good enough for him to tolerate. It gave him the rush high that he wanted as he used his excellent thought process with someone equally as talented as him. _

_On the other hand, to Lisa Cuddy, Wednesdays meant Research day. When she chose a slot to schedule her Fundamentals of Research class, she chose this day and piled up all the other important subjects to all the other remaining school days of the week. She decided early on that she would want the rest of the day rummaging through old medical journals and medical books that could be of help in her Review of Related Literature. On such day, nothing else existed aside from her desire to graduate top of her class and being awarded best researcher of her batch._

_It had been Mikhail Estrada's habit to watch all the other people to watch their behavior in the library every Wednesday. He was taking B.S. Philosophy with Psychology as his minor subject during that semester. He had been in and out of the university due to his seasonal lack of motivation. He would try to make a living by being a photographer and painter for a certain time then after he would be able to save the money that he needed he would again enroll himself to his course, then the cycle repeats again. But this year, this year was different. _

_Like every artist in history, he decided that it was about time that he'd find his new muse. He used to have one since he realized that his artistic side was very active. His first was his American History teacher when he was in sixth grade, then his English Literature professor in high school---all female. They, being educators, had seen the potential there was in him. He had no doubt that without the age barrier; they would have loved him more than a teacher could love their students. He practically believed that there could have been something more if he had not decided that maybe it wasn't just the right time, and they weren't the ones he should be with. _

_He was a good fiction writer, did sculpting when he was 14 and started painting professionally when he was 17. He could practically make a living by selling a few art pieces every once in a while. His love for photography started only after he entered college. After he had seen the vast choices of beautiful women in the campus, he decided he wanted to have at least a means to remember them. Plus, he found the method of capturing images without the tedious task of mixing colors altogether interesting. _

_He went up to pick up a book written by Charles Dickens when a woman three tables across his standing point caught his attention._

_At the corner of his eyes, he noticed how enticing her short, dark curly hair was as if seducing him. She was wearing a reading glass that gave her a more mature look. She was paying very close attention to a thick medical textbook that she was reading, was trying so hard to ignore everyone else in the library. _

_With that sight he was not able to stop a twinkle escape his eyes. _

_

* * *

_**HOUSE** sat quietly on a bedside chair. Before that, he made sure that there was available blood from the blood bank ready for transfusion for this particular guy. He regulated it to 10 drops per minute when Wilson opened the door.

"Sorry that it took us a while to find where you are," he said, slowly approaching his chair.

"I'm glad you even found me," House said.

Wilson forced a smile. "There's still no sign of Cuddy." He knew what question was playing on his mind that he did not have to voice out the exact question. He knew that it was exactly the reason why he stayed by the bastard's bed side. He wanted to make sure that when he wakes up, he could ask personally where Cuddy is.

House glanced at Wilson for a brief second and said, "How could I have missed it? Tsk, he was right in front of me and I didn't notice." He brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed it gently.

Wilson noticed a gush of blood escape the small cut, "Don't rub it. I'll get some betadine and cotton."

After a while Wilson came back with a kit but House asked him to just patch it with a Band Aid. Wilson knew that the exhausting evening left both of them not in an arguing mood.

"I can't stop thinking about her. I mean, where is she? Who took her? And why is this happening to her? Why now?" Wilson said while House cleansed his own wound. "What really happened down there?"

"I can't remember."

"Well, then let's just hope she'd be okay."

"Yeah, sure." House said, sarcastic.

Wilson shook his head, placed his arms to his waist and looked at him intently.

"I mean it. I meant it when I agreed that let's hope she'll be fine. It just didn't sound right. My tone, I mean."

"What is it that you know that you're not telling anyone?"

"I'm not keeping anything from anyone. I really can't remember."

"So, having a someone take Cuddy in plain sight and her stalker in this hospital bed is just a coincidence? Having two people prey at her at the same time is hardly a coincidence."

"Like I said, I can't remember a thing. You're nagging me. Don't you have better things to do? Like, Operation Finding Cuddy or something?"

"Fine. I'd check on security with their camera shots. I'll page you if something comes up." Wilson shook his head and walked away.

* * *

_**A SMILE** spread across her face when a paper airplane landed on her notebook the third time from a guy with an annoying smirk on his face. She glared at the guy. _

_Mikhail felt his heart beat faster, his respiration getting deeper. He wanted so much to get to her, to approach her, to ask her name, to say how beautiful---Damn He stopped on his way to her. _

_The twinkle in his eyes rapidly disappeared when the guy with the annoying smirk on his face bent over and quickly kissed the woman in the lips. Her eyeglasses fell to her nose. She tried to protest but only allowed the guy access to her mouth. He deepened the kiss. The other people in the library started to notice the two kissing. The guy then moved away, broke the kiss, waved to the crowd and left saying, "Bye, Cuddy-kins. See 'ya around."_

_Mikhail crushed the Charles Dickens book in his hand in dread. She can't be in love with another guy, he thought. She should be with him. His spirits were crushed with what he saw._

_She should be with him. Not with the other guy. _

_She belongs with him._

"C'mon, you bastard, wake up. Open your eyes…"

Mikhail heard a voice.

He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't see. A white light was blinding him. He couldn't focus. He couldn't make images out of the light, although he could hear someone talk to him.

"That's it! That's it, open your eyes…"

He still couldn't focus.

"Hawdon… I mean, Mikhail---you bastard…"

He closed his eyes forcefully then tried to open it again, hoping that it was able to help him focus.

"Open your eyes or I'll hit you."

He smiled and opened his eyes. This time, he waited…

"Stay with me."

"Gregory House…" Mikhail finally recognized the voice. Then, a blurry image came after.

"Yes, you son of a---"

"This is what I'll get after a reunion, my friend?"

"We're not friends. Never was."

Mikhail "Hawdon" Estrada chuckled.

"I was never friendly with kangaroos that hop around and prey on women who would never in their wildest imagination voluntarily hop in your baby-k pouch." House said.

"You're very good with insulting people. I'm actually hurt."

"Uh, sorry I made you cry." House said, narrowing his eyes.

"You know the only reason I kept you alive is because I actually thought you could be my friend."

House looked at him disbelievingly and used that face he mastered when insulting unbelievably idiotic clinic patients. "Well, sorry to disappoint you 'coz I thought the only reason you kept me alive was because you CAN'T kill me. I AM A GENIUS and everything, you know. I was always a step ahead of you."

Hawdon smirked and moved to get up from his bed, but then he realized that he was chained to the railings. He then looked at House who was intently looking at his face.

"I hope you didn't mind that I shaved you. I needed to see your incredibly nauseating face to confirm my theory." House tilted his head to his side, still engaged in their battle of words and will.

"You were always the clever one."

House slightly bowed his head, "Thank you."

Hawdon turned away and closed his eyes.

"No. You can't have your beauty rest just yet. I need you to tell me where Cuddy is."

Hawdon opened his eyes. "And what made you think I know?"

"I saved your ass, you chick. I kept you alive so I could ask this question and watch your face as I tell you that if something terrible happened to Cuddy, an incident report would reflect how I overdosed you with Potassium Chloride per intravenous push."

"Huh, you'd be taken away for negligence for that. You think that I'm worth it? Risking your medical license and stuff…I'm flattered."

"And you'd be taken away to hell for good. I will be the one flattered if I sent you to the vengeful welcoming hands of the women you slaughtered."'

"Do that." Hawdon dared.

"Well, it actually is taking a lot of courage from within me to not do it just yet. Tempting, very tempting but like I said earlier, I need to know where Cuddy is."

"I don't know where she is, or where he took her."

House's eyes narrowed skeptically. "He? There's another one of you?"

"Oh, no. I'm one of a kind."

"Then who the hell is he?"

"He's another guy, actually. He took her, but truth is that he's after you."

"So, you're after Cuddy and the other guy is after me? In what freak show are you two on?"

"I tried to protect her. You know that I would protect her, right? I never summed up the courage to touch her. You know that yourself. That on that evening at Michigan, I couldn't take her, I couldn't watch her suffer, and I couldn't hurt her. I don't know why I couldn't. I just couldn't and up until now, I can't."

"So, she's your Achilles heel or whatever."

"She's my muse."

"You're such an erotomaniac." House shook his head.

A weak smile spread across Hawdon's face. "You have no idea for how long I took therapy for that." Then, he allowed it to fade and continued, "You're not sending me to jail."

"Actually I could." House turned his head to the door, pointing to Hawdon the approaching bunch of New Jersey Policemen headed by Wilson.

"I know who he is." Hawdon tried to bait him.

"Tell me."

"If I tell you, would you let me go?"

It was House's turn to weigh the pros and cons of what he was thinking of doing as Wilson approached the room. "I want poof."

"Top floor of Princeton-Plainsboro Human Anatomy Laboratory B overlooking the parking lot... You'd find the rifle and his stuffs there."

"How did you know that?"

"It was my rifle. I left it there; the traitor used my own rifle against me. You let me go, and I will find him. I will kill him and I will bring her back."

Wilson opened the door and watched them talk. The policemen came after. House went up his chair and told the police what Hawdon said on where to find the rifle. The policemen took the radio and passed the message. House bore his weight to his cane to turn away when Hawdon spoke.

"So, you're gonna let me go?"

Wilson watched House's reaction to what Hawdon said and knew instantly that House was deep in his thought considering and reconsidering options, he called his surname in an attempt to break his chain of thoughts before he would get too engaged with it.

House looked at Wilson, slightly grateful and said, "No. I don't think so. I kept you alive that should be enough for you."

"What if I give you a name?"

"Do that," it was House's turn to dare him.

"Joaquin"

"Joaquin who?"

"Joaquin Estevez, gonna let me go now? I know his face."

House gritted his teeth. "I know that face too. And I should be the one to find him and bring her back."

* * *

**angcatalonan: **Hello, everyone. I'm sorry my upload took so long. But hey, it was a long chapter. XD. And my thanks to the people who reviewed the previous chapter, and of course to my ever patient beta, Jen. Thank you so much. And please, get well soon. And I have a gift, Ta-da! A Preview! Yay! It's a sneak peek on the next chap. I hope it wouldn't freak you out too much. Enjoy. And review.

**PREVIEW FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER: **

Cuddy walked around the room trying to find something she didn't know in particular what. She rummaged through the shelves and looked at the titles when somebody spoke behind her.

"I love to kill people. I love to watch them die. I would shoot them in the head and they would wiggle and squirm all over the place, and then just stop. Or I would cut them with a knife and watch their faces turn real white. I love all that blood. "

When Joaquin spoke behind her, she almost jumped. She turned around quickly as her back pressed on the shelf. She attempted another step back when he took one step closer to her. He smiled and raised both his arms for her to see that it was empty.

"I was quoting the Night Stalker Richard Ramirez. He was guilty of 63 crimes including 13 murders. He was sentenced to 12 death penalties and over 100 years imprisonment."

Cuddy tried to shook the fear away. She looked at him and wondered where the guy that he dated since 2 weeks ago had gone. "Joaquin…"

"The quote was from the book 'The World's Greatest Serial Killers'. A stranger gave it to me. I read a few, but never really understood how their sick pathetic minds worked. Some of them considered murder an artwork. I say, they are an insult to society. They are the wrong breeds of human evolution." He stepped closer and closer to her as she pressed herself deeper to the shelf on the wall hoping that she had gained an ability to pass through walls.

* * *

Did I already say review?


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